MANUSCRIT ACCEPTAT MANUSCRIT ACCEPTAT Legacies of Change: the Shaping of Cultural Landscapes in a Marginal Mediterranean Mountain Range, the Garraf Massif, North- Eastern Spain Ana Ejarque ; Hector A. Orengo Oxford Journal of Archaeology. Volume 28, Issue 4, November 2009, Pages Revista 425-440 DOI http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-0092.2009.00336.x Disponible 8/10/2009 Data de publicació 11/2009 en línia Per citar aquest document: Ejarque, A. and Orengo, H. A. (2009), Legacies of change: the shaping of cultural landscapes in a marginal Mediterranean mountain range, the Garraf Massif, North-Eastern Spain. Oxford Journal of Archaeology, 28: 425–440. doi:10.1111/j.1468- 0092.2009.00336.x Aquest arxiu PDF conté el manuscrit acceptat per a la seva publicació. 1 MANUSCRIT ACCEPTAT Summary Human conceptions of landscape have influenced the shaping of landscapes as much as landscape configurations have modelled human perceptions. In this article a new theoretical approach to long-term cumulative landscape change is tested on the Garraf Massif (Baix Llobregat, north-eastern Spain). Thanks to its ancient occupation, physical character and location near to the city of Barcelona, the area provides a good illustration of how human-induced landscape change has shaped new, and sometimes conflicting, landscape perceptions. These perceptions then play an equally active role in altering the previously ‘inherited landscape’ in a long-term cyclical process that can be studied through the combined use of historical, palaeoenvironmental and archaeological records. Introduction The shaping of cultural landscapes has been studied by adopting many theoretical approaches. Thus, the human factor has generally been acknowledged as being a primary agent of landscape change during the Holocene (Astill and Grant 1988; Walsh et al. 1995; Roberts 1998; Lewis 1999), while, conversely, natural processes in many instances have also been identified as determining socio-cultural changes (de Menocal 2001; Hodell et al. 2001; Wilkinson 1997). Numerous studies, however, have shown these processes to be twofold in nature, acknowledging the dual and reciprocal interaction between humans and the environment they inhabit synchronically and diachronically (Walsh 1999; Christie et al. 2004; Ayala and French 2005; Fletcher and Dunn 1999; Dunning et al. 1999). Recent approaches have also shown human perceptions to be a primary driving force in the shaping of past landscapes (Ingold 1993; Darvill 1997). Here, we are concerned with anthropogenic physical landscape changes and the role that people's landscape conceptions have played in the development of human-environment relations through time. Landscape change is, at times, irreversible. Some human activities, such as intense herding or farming activities, quarrying or mining, can involve processes of major vegetation change, erosion or the loss of soil nutrients that are very difficult, if not impossible, to reverse (Roberts 1998; Thornes 1987; Roberts et al. 2001). These permanent physical ‘scars’ left on the landscape influence both future land uses and cultural landscape perceptions. In this sense, every generation incorporates in its own conception the use that previous generations made of the landscape. A cumulative landscape change approach is proposed in this article in an attempt at relating physical landscape modifications to changes in people's perceptions and vice versa in the shaping of cultural landscapes. Marginal landscapes are thought to be the most valuable areas for the application of such an approach. They have known ecological, economic and socio-political constraints (Young and Simmonds 1999) that help to highlight the characterization of different socio-cultural perceptions and the use of these landscapes. Mountainous areas have frequently been typified as marginal (Christie et al. 2004, 2; Walsh 2005, 289). Several ecological factors, such as their pronounced 2 MANUSCRIT ACCEPTAT steepness, low quality soils or constraining topography, have played an active role in the creation of such a characterization. Water supply can also be a major constraint when dealing with Mediterranean calcareous ranges. Marginal mountain landscapes house multiple human uses and perceptions (including illegal/legal, stable settlement/mobility, productive/unproductive) and so present an excellent stage on which to assess the different human conceptions of landscape and their role in the shaping of these areas. Furthermore, mountain environments are highly sensitive to human impact (especially erosive processes), as the results are very visible. A more exhaustive analysis of the means by which modified landscapes influence the creation of new landscape perceptions is therefore possible in these areas. Below, a ‘marginal’ upland Spanish landscape is analysed from a long-term perspective to examine the benefits of applying a cumulative landscape change approach to our understanding of anthropogenic landscapes. We also investigate the capacity of the archaeological record to reflect differences in past landscape conceptions. Geographical setting The Garraf Massif (Baix Llobregat, north-eastern Spain) is a mountainous coastal region which has been designated a Natural Park. Centuries of uninterrupted human occupation together with frequent wild fires have transformed this Mediterranean calcareous and highly karstified massif into an eroded landscape in which dense shrub vegetation is found only in the lower valleys. Even though the Garraf Massif lies close to the densely populated city of Barcelona, visitors to the park are rare. This case study concentrated on a small upland zone of around 8 sq km at a height of c.600 m a.s.l. located within the Begues district (Fig. 1). Lack of water, highly precipitous slopes, and dramatic erosive processes characterize the extreme natural setting of the study area. This area was selected both for its present marginal character and its complex prehistoric and historic dynamics. 3 MANUSCRIT ACCEPTAT Figure 1. Open in figure viewer Map showing the location of the Catalan coast within Spain, the Garraf Massif and the study area. Methods and techniques Prior to our investigation no archaeological fieldwork had been undertaken in the selected study area. Locating structures in the landscape was therefore of prime importance in order to get a preliminary account of past human activities and land use patterns. The use of aerial photography and historic cartography has been extensive in the location of pathways and visible structures. Aerial orthophotography from the 1950s to the present day was essential in planning the fieldwork. Orthophotography analysis was also employed to assess the extent of the major physical changes produced in the area from the 1960s onwards. Maps dating from the end of the eighteenth century to the present were also consulted. An extensive field survey was carried out in the study area by a team of professional archaeologists. The aim of this exercise was to analyse the structures that had been previously located in aerial photographs and maps, as well as to record new ones. As a result, 44 different archaeological structures (farmhouses, corrals, shelters, cisterns, enclosures, stock routes, etc.) were identified. Intensive 4 MANUSCRIT ACCEPTAT surveying combined with artefact recovery was not feasible owing to extreme soil erosion on the mountain ridges and the presence of very dense Mediterranean macchia in the valleys. Consultation of Catalonia's sites and monuments record provided an up-to-date image of the archaeology in the study area surroundings. GIS and database systems were employed to integrate information collected from aerial photography, cartography, and the field survey. GIS was also invaluable in informing us about our interpretative hypothesis. By tracing least-cost routes between sites it was possible to predict the location of ancient, but long since disappeared, pathways linking visible archaeological sites (Orengo and Ejarque 2008, 82–3; Orengo et al. 2008, 93–4). Once the structures had been located, we attempted to date them. Historical documentation, together with old maps, provided the most precise relative dating available to us (mostly antequem). Typological affinities also provided a means of ascribing date to the surveyed structures. Toponymic analysis was used to relate names appearing on dated historical documents to the structures recorded in the field. In order to chart changing human perceptions of the landscape of the study area, the use of written documentation provided important insights into the social and cultural phenomena underpinning landscape conceptions. Present and past human perceptions cannot be restricted to an 8 sq km area since the meaning ascribed to landscapes is built upon broader symbolic scales (Darvill 1997). For this reason, historical and archaeological data available at the regional scale were also considered. Equally, a number of environmental changes have occurred at the regional scale. In this sense, palynological (Riera 2003; Riera et al. 2004), charcoal (Ros 1985; 1992), and faunal (Edo et al. 1986) studies carried out within the Garraf Massif and related areas were selected in order to obtain an approximate image of the environmental evolution and human impact on the study area through time. Phasing the landscape Phases are used in archaeological interpretation to divide long-term processes. This ensures a more accessible approach and provides a better understanding of change in the archaeological record.